Ariadne (minor planet designation: 43 Ariadne) is a fairly large and bright main-belt asteroid. It is the second-largest member of the Flora asteroid family. It was discovered by N. R. Pogson on 15 April 1857 and named after the Greek heroine Ariadne.
Discovery | |
---|---|
Discovered by | N. R. Pogson |
Discovery date | 15 April 1857 |
Designations | |
(43) Ariadne | |
Pronunciation | /æriˈædniː/[1] |
Named after | Ariadne |
Main belt (Flora family) | |
Adjectives | Ariadnean, Ariadnian /æriˈædniən/ |
Orbital characteristics | |
Epoch 26 November 2005 (JD 2453700.5) | |
Aphelion | 384.954 Gm (2.573 AU) |
Perihelion | 274.339 Gm (1.834 AU) |
329.646 Gm (2.204 AU) | |
Eccentricity | 0.168 |
1194.766 d (3.27 a) | |
101.582° | |
Inclination | 3.464° |
264.937° | |
15.948° | |
Physical characteristics | |
Dimensions | 95 km × 60 km × 50 km[2][3][4] |
Mass | (3.27 ± 1.35/0.59)×1017 kg[5] |
Mean density | 3.042 ± 1.255/0.547 g/cm3[5][a] |
0.2401 d[6] | |
0.274[7] | |
S | |
8.8[8] to 13.42 | |
7.93 | |
0.11–0.025″ | |
Ariadne is very elongate (almost twice as long as its smallest dimension) and probably bi-lobed[4] or at least very angular. It is a retrograde rotator, although its pole points almost parallel to the ecliptic towards ecliptic coordinates (β, λ) = (−15°, 253°) with a 10° uncertainty.[3] This gives an axial tilt of about 105°.
43 Ariadne was in a study of asteroids using the Hubble FGS. Asteroids studied include (63) Ausonia, (15) Eunomia, (43) Ariadne, (44) Nysa, and (624) Hektor.[9]